SUBMITTED BY Fred Hill

June 25, 2001 —

Well it looks like we have some DVD dates for some of those blockbusters put out by Universal. If all goes well for the company, which they have so far, then this should be a good year all around. Check you to see if you movie of the year is on the list. Thanks Squrik.

HOLLYWOOD -- Universal Studios Home Entertainment has an unprecedented lineup of $200 million grossing movies set to debut on home video and DVD in the fourth quarter.

On Oct. 2, "The Mummy Returns" will storm onto shelves. The monster sequel has unwrapped $193 million to date at the box office after just seven weeks of release and will hit the double century mark by the end of its run.

Seven weeks later at around Thanksgiving comes "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The film earned $260 million to become the top grossing picture of 2000 domestically.

Universal also gets to handle the video and DVD release of DreamWorks' "Shrek," which has raked in $197 million at the box office through its fifth weekend to become the top movie of this year. It will easily cross the $200 million mark.

However, "Shrek" may be re-released theatrically in the fall or, later still, for Academy Award consideration, which could delay its home video bow. Additionally, Universal has "Jurassic Park III" tentatively scheduled to bow on video during the holidays. If the dino-sequel crosses the $200 million mark theatrically like its predecessors did, then the studio would have four movies that reached that milestone issued on video/DVD in the same quarter, which could lead to a massive financial windfall.

In the fourth quarter of 2000, Universal released three titles that each grossed over $100 million at the box office: "The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" and DreamWorks' "Chicken Run" and Best Picture winner "Gladiator."